The Celebrity Treatment (Friday Devotional)

“Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

- Hebrews 13:1-2

“Then righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”

- Matthew 25:37-40

Among the many incredible athletes who shined on the world stage at this year’s Olympic Games, my favorite was U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky. As you likely know, Ledecky was one of this year’s standout American athletes, winning 5 medals total, 4 gold. Her performance in Rio, especially her dominant showing in the 800m freestyle, made her a household name—her face is on magazine covers, she’s made the talk show circuit, and just the other night she threw out the first pitch at a Washington Nationals game while superstar Bryce Harper was relegated to holding her medals for her. Katie Ledecky, in other words, is a big deal.

But coming into the Olympics, most of us didn’t know that yet. Though Ledecky won a gold medal in the 2012 Olympics in London, few Americans probably could have picked her out of a crowd the week before the festivities began in Rio. I say that with a reasonable degree of certainty because of a story that one of the U.S. swimmers tweeted out one week before the Opening Ceremony. Ledecky and her teammates were outside Maracanã Stadium, headed to a practice, when a couple of girls tapped Ledecky on the shoulder and asked if she wouldn’t mind taking a photo. You might assume the girls wanted a picture with Ledecky, photographic proof that they’d met a gold medalist…and if they’d met her 2 weeks and 5 medals later, that probably would have been true. But that wasn’t the case—the girls were asking her to take a picture for the two of them. Gold medalist and superstar-to-be Katie Ledecky, unrecognized by the two tourists, was reduced to playing amateur photographer like she was any other bystander.

It’s funny to imagine how those girls might have acted if they’d tapped Katie Ledecky on the shoulder two weeks later than they did. Maybe they’d have asked for an autograph or a selfie, or perhaps they’d have been too starstruck to say a word. What’s virtually certain is that they wouldn’t have asked her to play photographer for them. There’s a reason for that: we act different around ‘important’ people than we do around ‘normal’ people. To put it in terms of Katie Ledecky’s story, there are some people whom we want to take pictures with us, and other people whom we want to take pictures for us.

Scripture cautions against that worldly attitude, one that elevates certain people based on their status while relegating others to a lower position. In fact, the verses above instruct you to bestow an incredible status onto those you might otherwise ignore—when faced with the impoverished woman or the imprisoned man, you are supposed to see Jesus staring back at you. When the opportunity to serve someone presents itself, you are called to show the sort of grace and hospitality you might if an angel of the Lord were in your presence. Love that that you might normally reserve for the divine is, it seems, meant to be extended to even the lowliest who cross your path.

But intentionally or not, most of us are pretty meritocratic when it comes to how we show kindness, doling out compassion to those we think deserve it or who might return the favor on down the road. We are slower to engage with “the least of these,” the people we don’t even want to think about. We’d rather not make eye contact with them, much less love them.

But grace doesn’t allow the Christian to ignore anyone—instead it demands that the unloved and the unlovable be seen, respected, and most of all, loved. Grace calls the believer to see the image of God in every person, no matter their situation or their story, and to respond accordingly, with the mercy of Christ. In the kingdom of God there is no caste system, no pecking order, there are only those saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. So as you encounter people in your daily life, whether they are Olympian or ordinary, don’t demand a reason to love them—the cross is reason enough.